Gophers goalie has more to say, less to do

Minnesota Gophers' goalie Kent Patterson makes one of hiis 17 saves in a 6-0 shutout victory over the Vermont Catamounts on Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis Friday October 21, 2011. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

The next challenge for the Minnesota Gophers men's hockey team might be to help goalie Kent Patterson battle occasional boredom in games.

Shots on goal by Gophers opponents have become so sporadic that Patterson revealed that he talks to himself to keep sharp while his teammates control the game in front of him.

"When you go six or seven minutes without having a shot come your way, you have to do things to stay ready," Patterson said. "Personally, I like the challenge of 28 to 30 shots a game, but if the team is doing what it needs to do to win, it's OK."

The steady improvement of the Gophers' defense was evident after Wisconsin managed only 14 shots on goal in the top-ranked Gophers' 4-1 win Saturday night in Madison. Patterson had to turn back only five shots in the third period.

Since the Gophers (10-2-0, 7-1-0 WCHA) allowed 20 shots on goal in the third period at Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 15, no team has gotten off more than nine shots in the period. In the past four games against Wisconsin and North Dakota, Patterson did not have to stop more than 12 shots in any of the six periods. The Gophers hope the trend continues tonight and Saturday in a home-and-home series against St. Cloud State (5-5-2, 3-2-1). Tonight's game is in St. Cloud.

More emphasis was placed on helping Patterson after he faced a combined 100 shots in the two-game series at Duluth. The Gophers won both games, but the number of shots fired at Patterson was, as defenseman Mark Alt put it, "alarming.

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"We watched a lot of tape to see how we could cut down on our gaps between their skaters," Alt said. "We had to play a lot tighter on guys and not let them get shots off. When I saw we held Wisconsin to 14 shots, it proved that all the work we had done in practice and the games had paid off."

The Gophers have allowed more than 25 shots since the Duluth series only once. Alaska Anchorage fired 27 at Patterson in the Gophers' 3-1 win on Oct. 29. Since that game, the Gophers have made things easier for Patterson, who has five shutouts this season along with a 1.66 goals-against average and .935 save percentage.

Alt, a sophomore from Cretin-Derham Hall, is one of six Gophers defensemen getting significant playing time. The others are Seth Helgeson, Nate Schmidt, Justin Holl, Ben Marshall and Jake Parenteau. Coach Don Lucia believes the depth of defensemen has been a key factor in the team's strong play in front of Patterson.

"What I like about our group is that we have pretty good balance with our three groups," Lucia said of his defensemen. "We don't have to worry as much about always putting our best unit out there against a team's best players. We've been able to play six guys back there, and that's helped us in the third period a lot."

Patterson has been so dominant in the net this season that his teammates acknowledged they had developed a "comfort zone" knowing Patterson was behind them if they made a mistake. Helgeson said the players are taking on more of the responsibility to keep pressure off Patterson.

"We've been trying to identify more who the other team's top shooters are when they're on the ice," Helgeson said. "We know Kent's got our back, but we have to do our job, too. We've been doing a much better job of getting into the shooting and passing lanes, and blocking more shots ourselves."

SHOTS ON GOAL AGAINST GOPHERS

Past four games:

14 - at Wisconsin, Saturday

21 - at Wisconsin, Friday

19 - vs. North Dakota, Nov. 5

24 - vs. North Dakota, Nov. 4

Shots on goal in third period past four games:

5 - at Wisconsin

8 - at Wisconsin

8 - North Dakota

6 - North Dakota

6.1

Average shots on goal in third period since Oct. 15 at Minnesota-Duluth